Race

Can Lewis Hamilton take a 5th consecutive British GP win? History is on his side but he’ll have the Ferrari’s of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen, his Mercedes team-mate Valterri Bottas and the threat of Red Bull to contend with. Nico Hulkenberg, Carlos Sainz, Lance Stroll and Brendon Hartley will start on the Medium tyre with everyone else starting on the Soft tyre.

The lights go out and Sebastian Vettel leads into turn 1 with Valterri Bottas in 2nd as it’s a poor start for Lewis Hamilton. Behind Kimi Raikkonen goes down the inside of Hamilton into turn 3 and Hamilton is spun around by the Finn. Hamilton drops down to the back of the grid. Vettel leads ahead of Bottas, Max Verstappen as Raikkonen overtakes Daniel Ricciardo into turn 9. Replay shows that Raikkonen locked-up and hit Hamilton, causing the Brit to spin.

Lap 3, Lewis Hamilton seems to be okay with little damage as he close up to the back of Romain Grosjean in 13th place. Lap 4, Sebastian Vettel has extended his lead to over 4 seconds. Sergio Perez spun at the start after locking up and then being tagged by Marcus Ericsson. Lap 5, Hamilton has now made his way in 11th as Vettel’s leads extends to 5 seconds. Lap 6, Hamilton overtakes Kevin Magnussen for 10th place. Vettel leads from Bottas, Verstappen, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Charles Leclerc, Esteban Ocon, Carlos Sainz and Hamilton.

Lap 7, the Stewards have given Kimi Raikkonen a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision between himself and Lewis Hamilton. Lap 8, Hamilton overtakes Carlos Sainz for 9th. Lap 9, Hamilton overtakes Esteban Ocon for 8th as the Stewards are looking at an incident between the Haas drivers of Kevin Magnussen and Romain Grosjean at the start of the race. Lap 10, Hamilton overtakes Charles Leclerc for 7th down into turn 15. Lap 11, Hamilton overtakes Nico Hulkenberg for 6th down into turn 15. Hamilton now in 6th is now 27 seconds behind Sebastian Vettel who is in the lead.

Lap 14, Kimi Raikkonen pits from 4th. The Finn takes the time penalty before the mechanics get to work on changing his tyres. Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez pits as well. Raikkonen rejoins in 11th and on the Medium compound tyre. Lap 15, Raikkonen overtakes Carlos Sainz for 9th down into turn 6. Alonso and Perez went onto the Medium tyre. Lap 16, Raikkonen overtakes Esteban Ocon for 8th place down into turn 6. Lap 17, Raikkonen now overtakes Charles Leclerc for 7th down into turn 6 and then overtakes Nico Hulkenberg for 6th down into turn 15.

Lap 18, Max Verstappen pits from 3rd. The Dutchman goes onto the Medium tyre and rejoins in 5th. Lap 18, Daniel Ricciardo pits, goes onto the Medium tyre and rejoins in 5th just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. Charles Leclerc pits, goes onto the Hard tyre, exits the pits and pulls over and retires from the race. Esteban Ocon and Carlos Sainz pit. Lap 21, Sebastian Vettel pits form the lead, goes onto the Medium tyre and rejoins in 2nd ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Raikkonen goes wide at turn 1 and loses time to Ricciardo. Nico Hulkenberg pits and goes onto the Hard compound tyre the same as team-mate Sainz.

Behind the top 6, Nico Hulkenberg is in 7th with Esteban Ocon, Fernando Alonso and Kevin Magnussen rounding out the top 10. After 2 consecutive fastest laps of the race, Lewis Hamilton’s gap to Kimi Raikkonen is down to 6 seconds. Lap 31, Daniel Ricciardo pits from 4th. The Australian goes onto as set of Soft tyres and rejoins in 6th. Lap 33, Marcus Ericsson has crashed. The Swede has crashed at turn 1 with the Sauber driver getting out of the car. The Safety Car has been deployed.

Sebastian Vettel pits from the lead as Valterri Bottas stays out. Vettel goes onto a set of Soft tyres as Max Verstappen and Kimi Raikkonen pit. Raikkonen and Verstappen went onto a set of Soft tyres. Bottas leads ahead of Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Verstappen, Raikkonen and Daniel Ricciardo. Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz also pitted with both going onto the Soft tyre. Stoffel Vandoorne pits as well going onto the Soft tyre. Bottas and Hamilton were the only 2 out of the top 6 not to pit. Will this be another strategy mistake from Mercedes?

Lap 38, racing resumes as the Safety Car pulls into the pits. Kimi Raikkonen overtakes Max Verstappen down into turn 6 with Verstappen overtaking Raikkonen round the outside of turn 7. Romain Grosjean and Carlos Sainz have made contact with both in the barrier after making contact. The Safety Car is called out again. The replay shows that Sainz tried to overtake Grosjean round the outside of turn 9 with Sainz not leaving Grosjean enough room thus making contact.

Lap 42, racing resumes once again as the Safety Car pulls into the pits. It’s another good restart by Valterri Bottas who leads Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton. Fernando Alonso overtakes Kevin Magnussen for 9th as Bottas defends from Vettel down into turn 6. Magnussen re-overtakes Alonso for 9th. Lap 43, Kimi Raikkonen overtakes Max Verstappen round the outside of turn 15 for 4th place. Lap 44, Bottas defends heavily through turns 6,7 and 8. Lap 46, Verstappen has spun at turn 16. Lap 47, down into turn 6, Vettel overtakes Bottas for the lead! Verstappen has got problems as the Dutchman has dropped to 14th place. Verstappen is out as Hamilton overtakes Bottas for 2nd into turn 6.

Sebastian Vettel lead on lap 48 ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Valterri Bottas and Kimi Raikkonen with Daniel Ricciardo not far behind in 6th. Lap 49, Raikkonen overtakes Bottas down the inside of turn 6 for 4rd place. Bottas is starting to struggle on his older Medium tyre as Ricciardo closes on the Finn. Onto the 52nd and final lap, Vettel still leads ahead of Hamilton, Raikkonen, Bottas and Ricciardo.

Sebastian Vettel win and takes Ferrari’s first win in Silverstone since 2011. Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen round out the podium as Fernando Alonso overtakes Kevin Magnussen for 8th. Pierre Gasly and Sergio Perez are under investigation as the pair made contact when Gasly was trying to overtake in the dying laps of the race. Sauber are also under investigation for the unsafe release for Charles Leclerc.